Five reasons why local handshapes should always have a place in your quiver

We all know that the era of mass-produced handmade surfboards has come and gone. The biggest board manufacturers in the world rely on design programs and CNC machines more than skilled hands and power planers. But hand shaping hasn’t vanished from the earth—it just changed its address. Instead of residing in big factories, it’s moved into backyards, garages, and tool sheds. And while today’s hand shapers may not be able to churn out the same volume of boards as the biggest brands in the industry, they have more than a few redeeming qualities.

You’ve got to control the power that France gives you, so the extra tail lift and the double concave helps you release some of that power. If you were to ride a really flat board out there, you’d be going really fast but wouldn’t be able to control your turns. Concave, tail rocker, and fin measurements are the factors that we play around with to make boards right for France.

This weekend, October 5 and 6, The Boardroom, a kind of surfboard festival/trade show, will be going down at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa. If you like surfboards, which, of course you do, you owe it to yourself to take a peek at what’s going on there. And there is an awful lot going on.

A cross between a tadpole and an electric toothbrush. Surely no one has uttered those words when describing the shape of a surfboard, and some might argue, never should. But that’s how you might describe the latest design from Swedish-born California transplant Thomas Meyerhoffer.

Matt Biolos talks about the board Taj rode to the win at the Hurley Pro

His boards generally have more curve and narrower tails and noses than most of the other boards I make. He rides some of the lowest volume, curviest boards on Tour and they lend themselves to quick surfing.

"If you can find a magic board you feel comfortable on, you don’t even think of it as a board anymore but as an extension of your body and you can just do whatever you want. I’ll be hanging onto that one from Teahupoo, and if the conditions are right I will pull it out again." —Ace Buchan

The hype surrounding 3D printing has consumers and manufacturers buzzing. There have been discussions of printing everything from guns to steaks to entire buildings. NASA even funded the development of a 3D food printer to feed astronauts in space. Everyone wants a piece of the computer-generated pie. And surfers are no exception.

“You can minimize drag but you can’t escape it. Think of a skydiver in free fall: at a certain point, the air resistance is going to cause them to reach terminal velocity, and further acceleration is not possible. In sailing, or surfing, when you calculate the drag of any surfaces above the water, plus any surfaces below the water, that dictates your maximum speed. You can try to reduce the dragging components above and below the water to push that threshold higher by getting rid of the leash, changing the fins, manipulating the bottom surface of the board, but there will always be some drag working against you.”

When Michael Ho started riding my boards, without a doubt he honed my skills and helped me develop designs more than any other surfer to this day. He was probably the most difficult person to build a board for. It’s not a negative thing, but he is really picky and demanding. There were a lot of times where I built boards for him and he said the board was good, but he couldn’t win on it. He was always looking for that magic board.